Charles Sumner (1811-1874)

Charles Sumner of Massachusetts was a great orator and an ardent abolitionist senator from Massachusetts. In May 1856 he delivered his most famous antislavery oration, "The Crime Against Kansas." Two days later, in the most violent act ever committed on the floor of Congress, Sumner was beaten unconscious in the Senate by an irate South Carolina congressman, Preston Brooks. Sumner put constant pressure on Lincoln until he emancipated the slaves.